Astronaut Annie

Career day is coming, and Annie can’t wait to reveal her true aspiration to her family and friends and the whole school. The book builds on this goal as Annie goes to each family member and builds their anticipation as they encourage her in her aspirations but also give salient advice on what they hope she might choose based on their previous experiences together. She respects the wishes of each one but reveals nothing about her true intent.

From each parent she takes an offered object: a camera, a mixing bowl and oven mitts, an old backpack, and high-top sneakers. By the end, instead of Annie choosing one of these treasured items, she uses them all to complete her true dream: to be an astronaut.

Astronaut Annie can be interpreted in various ways as to a moral, but at the heart of it it’s more about not just following your dreams but about not giving up even when you’re told otherwise or given alternatives, and taking the advice of others but still continuing on to your final dream.